On Angels' Wings
by Lou-deadfroggy
Summary: Once opened, portals are hard to close. Love often falls from the sky and hits you hard, bringing old battle scars with it. Bruce broke and angel's heart and Steve is trying to understand what it means to love someone you've been told you can't.
1. Chapter 1

**On Angels' Wings**

**So I finally got round to writing this one. Sorry it took so long, I had a busy term and this was at the bottom of the pile (not quite bottom, those of you who went and read Pacing expect to wait until the last film has come out).**

**For those of you joining us, hi! This is the third in a series (Guardian Angel, the Demon and the Angel). There's a quick catch up at the bottom of this chapter and you haven't missed much. **

… …

Steve looked out at the New York skyline in the distance, the huge skyscrapers and constant lights the only thing worth seeing from his roof. Over the other side he could see the small park and a few trees. Nothing sensational but he liked it. It was home.

"It looks much more impressive from the sky," Arella said from the stairway door. She held a glass of wine in each hand, squeezing her wings through the doorway. He took the proffered glass and turned back to the skyline.

"I think they look the best from the ground right at the bottom, so all you can see as you look up is the towers going up into the sky," he answered.

"Don't let Tony hear you say that, out of all of them his looks like a misshapen toadstool. I don't like the glass; I think I'm going to smash into it like birds do."

"I doubt you'd do that, unless of course you fly home after that drink." She poked out her tongue at him and took a long sip.

"We can't all have the metabolism of the gods. What happened to you being the gentleman anyway? Aren't you supposed to be polite?" He grinned.

"I'm learning. Apparently banter is very common." Arella turned around, letting her wings drape over the side of the building.

"You spend too much time with Stark. You need a day job. Is there anything you can actually do besides beat up the bad guys and be insufferably tall?" Steve looked affronted by that but took a minute to actually answer.

"I could ask a museum or something if they wanted help with war exhibits I guess. What about you? Surely you can't spend all day with Stark?" Laughing Arella cast a glance at the illuminated Stark Tower.

"No, Fury has me working with Natasha on missions sometimes. Most people don't expect an aerial attack when they can't hear a plane. Aerial backup, extractions, stuff like that. I'd tell you details, but then I'd have to kill you," she said with a sweet little smile. Steve didn't return it, looking out at the horizon thoughtfully. "What?" she asked.

"Are you alright? Truthfully, about… that?" Her face fell slightly, her smile freezing into a curt little line. She didn't like him bringing Bruce up again. Natasha would mention him randomly as well for no reason. Only Clint actually cottoned on to the fact that she didn't want to talk about what had happened. That had made her closer to the archer, they both had dealings with Loki they didn't want to share or deal with.

"How long do I have to be fine before you guys realise I actually am?" Her tone was harsh, frustrated. The truth was she wasn't fine; nowhere near fine but it was the sort of thing she kept under wraps. She could pretend to be fine well enough. Back home, she had gone for two years seemingly unaffected by her father's death, never speaking about it to anyone and just moving on with the troubles of surviving. Only Tchako had realised and finally managed to get her to talk about it. He had told her she needed to talk about her problems more, instead of bottling them all up but she didn't. It wasn't worth getting upset about in front of someone else.

"Until I believe you. Arella, no one bounces back from something like that."

"Maybe I did. People do get over their exes, you know." She was lying; Bruce was far more than just an ex. She would still look around for him, so used to him being there every second of the day. She missed Montana, living in the hills. She knew it wouldn't have lasted, one way or another things weren't working even before Loki but it was vastly better than her situation now.

"I don't…" Steve was cut short by the stairway door flinging open to reveal a slightly out of breath Natasha.

"Suit up, we're on the clock," she said. They were running back down to Steve's apartment, or in Arella's case simply jumping down to his balcony, her wings spread out wide, in a matter of seconds. Natasha handed her a pack with her suit in as Steve disappeared into his room to change.

"What's the situation?" the super soldier asked through the door.

"There's a massive disturbance in central Ohio. We think it's a portal of some kind but where to we don't know. No word from Thor, we're expecting a threat to appear any moment. Clint's already there, Tony's on his way too. You ready?" Arella nodded, strapping her sword around her hips. Steve emerged suited up, opening the door for Natasha.

"Don't think we're not finishing that conversation, I don't believe you," he muttered to Arella as she passed.

"Let's just do our job, Captain," she retorted coldly. Natasha turned around, glaring at her.

"You may have passed Fury's emotional stability test but you haven't passed mine. If this thing starts emitting gamma rays or something we're calling him in," the redhead warned.

"Doctor Banner is the leading authority on gamma rays, if you can find him." Natasha gave her a small, cold smile.

"Oh we never lost him." Arella checked, surprised. She had expected that if Natasha had known where Bruce was the redhead would have told her at every opportunity. She had to remind herself that she wasn't supposed to care where he was. Wherever it was, a large but ignored part of her wanted to be there too.

… …

**Arella arrived on Earth by accident (she was aiming for Asgard) when a dictator killed her family and tried to marry her. She met Bruce, fought some baddies, they fell in love (although she had a thing for Steve at one point) then went and lived in Montana together until Loki showed up and she did some double crossing, revealed she had super powers (apart from having angel's wings) so Bruce felt he couldn't trust her and they broke up. Oh, and I killed Betty Ross off somewhere along the way too. **** Brief summary, for those who can't be bothered to read the other two.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

… …

Arella walked around the bridge, flexing her wings irritably. Hill cast glances at her occasionally but most of the SHIELD personnel ignored her. Her hand kept going to her sword then back to her side at a glare from Hill. She was unnerved, something was wrong and she could just feel it. Tony was in the lab trying to work out what the massive storm clouds gathering for no reason above them were made of, it certainly wasn't water droplets. Steve was on the ground overseeing the evacuation and she hadn't kept track of where Clint and Natasha were.

"Miss Brand?" Hill asked finally, using the surname Arella had chosen. She hadn't been able to resist using a name from the same book as Bruce's pet name for her, Arell. The agent could almost have looked friendly if not for the cold gaze in her eyes.

"If something is troubling you I would suggest you discuss it with your team." Arella gave her a flat look.

"Something's coming, Hill. It feels like someone's been walking on my grave. I'm going to take a closer look." She ignored the woman's muttered curse and left the room. Outside the wind blew at her skirt and hair, not quite high enough for her to need an oxygen mask but chilly nonetheless. She took off, her large white wings beating the air down around her as she left the runway behind.

"Arella, don't you dare get yourself stuck in there," Tony warned her through the link he had moved from her helmet to her shoulder to stop her losing it so often.

"I'm not a hatchling, Tony. I know what I'm doing." She circled the storm, oddly focused in one place until she had done a full circle. Something was still bugging her, like when she had seen the face of someone but couldn't remember where from.

"You done, feathers?" Tony asked curtly. Arella sighed and headed back towards the helicarrier.

"It's not natural," she said. He snorted over the line.

"Well done bird brain. It's not natural, it's not like the portal the Tesseract opened and it's less dense than your stunt in Paris. So, where does it go and who's on the other side?" Arella landed, going straight inside towards Tony's lab.

"I don't know. I'm guessing it's another world, dimensions are too unstable to keep open this long."

"I don't get this. You haven't got electricity but you have steam power and dimensional portals. That's just messed up. Steampunk angels."

"You spend too much time on the internet," she told him, making him jump violently as her voice went from being just over the link to being in stereo.

"And you spend too much time around Natasha," he bit back. "Okay, so now go and do that shadow hunter stuff like in Paris and we can all go home." She rolled her eyes, if only it was that simple.

"I can't close something that's only open on one end. Try closing a door that doesn't have a handle on your side. Besides, where's the fun in that?" Tony returned her grin, bouncing around again.

"That's not the attitude, Miss Brand," Fury's unimpressed voice chided. "The citizen evacuation is complete, what is the cloud's status?"

"Uh, cloud like," Tony answered brightly. Even with one eye Fury managed to convey a huge amount of annoyance.

"It hasn't changed since we got here," Arella began only to be cut off by a loud beeping coming from a monitor. "I spoke too soon. Tony?" He pulled a screen towards them, flicking through the graphs.

"The static pattern changed, became more regular. Recognise that pattern?" Arella shook her head.

"Don't get distracted," Fury ordered as he turned to leave. Tony took advantage of his blind spot to show Arella what he thought about the director. With a perfectly straight face she watched him leave before shoving the billionaire away.

… …

Natasha sat, poised on the edge of her bed tensely. If she had been anyone else she would have been pacing but that wasn't her style. The whole situation was too similar to Loki's first invasion. She half expected to be informed that a maniac demi-god had gone after Clint or Bruce. Here they were, their two experts working on the unnatural disturbances and underlying tension ready to rip the group apart. She hoped that they wouldn't need to call Bruce in; she didn't think he would come.

"Go talk to her," Clint said from his perch, his eyes never leaving her as he watched the faintest flickers of emotion cross her face. "If you don't, Steve is going to give her the Spanish Inquisition."

"After, when this thing's gone. We don't need another argument in the team."

"Natasha Romanoff, a team player?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Apparently so," Natasha answered, getting up and leaving. She told herself it was to check up on the lab's progress. Clint knew better.

… …

"Okay, this thing has pissed me off. Is it just going to sit there all day?" Tony threw himself across the room on a swivel chair, blueberries in hand.

"Maybe it's charging. Or waiting for something. It's been there for seven hours, Tony, that's hardly that long." He yawned at her, moving the fruits out of reach as she tried to take one.

"There's a pattern, in the static electric waves coming out. Surely Fury should be able to match it to something, SHIELD monitors everything. Somewhere, there must be something."

"We're looking, Tony. Nothing connected with Loki's invasions, Thor's appearances, anything remotely similar," Arella reminded him, succeeding in grabbing a blueberry.

"Then why do I get the feeling that we're missing the obvious, something stupidly obvious?"

"Because being a billionaire superhero with the ego the size of the moon has turned you paranoid."

"Playboy, philanthropist, did you not hear my opening speech?" She shook her head, sighing.

"No, of course not. I didn't understand anything for ages remember? Wait…" Tony was up before she could finish, tapping away at the screen.

"Geneva, May, two years ago. Here! That's it!" he clapped himself on the back. Arella frowned.

"What's it?" He pointed eagerly, grinning.

"It's the same as a minor disturbance over the place you landed, just bigger," he explained. Arella's face dropped as she finally understood.

"You mean, it's from my world?" Tony nodded. "Shit."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

… …

Arella stared at the screen for a while, letting it sink in. Tony was strangely quiet next to her. Finally she managed to get her thoughts in enough order to say something.

"I blew it up. The whole place was packed with enough gunpowder to blow it a mile high. It knocked me off course, brought me here not Asgard. It's gone, there's no way they could have salvaged anything. You've got it wrong."

"Not likely, birdie. It's identical. Geneva has some pretty impressive monitors around it, making black holes underground isn't left to chance. SHIELD covered it up because of you so no one asked any questions. I'm afraid the angels are about to descend. What's the big deal though?" She stared at him incredulously.

"Tony, I staged my own suicide to try and escape that place. Loki threatened me with sending me back. Jeie rules there, he is dangerous. We don't know if he plans to invade or not, it's the sort of thing he'd do." Her voice was desperate, pleading with him to see how disastrous the portal was.

"We have to find a way to shut it," she continued.

"Chill out, birdie. We'll close it. Go and break the good news to Fury." She glared at him, well aware that she had been landed with the dangerous job. Mouthing insults at him as he turned away, she stormed out. The effect was ruined when she had to slow down to fit through the door. On the bridge Fury was at the helm, Hill reading off something and looking annoyed. Arella finally decided that they should be shipped, Fury and Miss Pissedoff. She didn't really have much of a reason for disliking Hill, they just had a subconscious understanding that they didn't get on. Fury couldn't take the same hint.

"Miss Brand?" the director asked. "What is the development?" She swallowed past the lump in her throat and put on her best cold face.

"Tony has found a perfect match to the cloud's activity. It is identical to a much smaller one over Geneva the night I arrived. He believes it is from the same place." Fury nodded, unsurprised.

"It would have had to happen someday. You had better find a way to close it before any of your friends arrive," he ordered, his voice dangerously hard.

"I doubt anyone I'd like to see is on their way, director. I will be the first to open fire if the need arises." Arella turned on her heel, stalking back to Tony.

... ...

"I'd say we have about an hour before its big enough to let anything through," Tony announced, lounging back on his chair. "We can't close it until it's fully open, that will blow the whole of Ohio off the map. So, who's left at home to try and come here? Mom, uncle, boyfriend?" Arella was standing at the window, staring at the cloud and ignored him until he threw a ball of paper at her head.

"I have not spoken to my mother for six years, she went into hiding in her family's lands when my brother was killed and left her daughters to fend for themselves. Jeie had my sister in law killed a few months before I left. The only friend I had left was Merza and he could never have the power or resources to open that thing. No, I don't think they're peacefully, Tony." She turned around to see Hill standing at the door, and odd expression on her face. "What do you want, Agent?"

"The other Avengers are on the bridge, Fury wants you both there as well," she answered. Arella frowned as the woman kept her eye for a second too long. Something was up with Hill. She wondered about it as they went back to bridge where Steve, Clint and Natasha had gathered. Tony flopped straight into his seat, Arella hesitated before taking the place next to Steve.

"Mr Stark?" Fury nodded for Tony to start filling the others in.

"Basically the cloud is a portal to Arella's world. It's identical to the one over Geneva the day she appeared. So, I've been trying to work out who would come but apparently they're a load of jerks over there in heaven." Arella glared at him.

"Arella," Natasha began quietly. "We need to know exactly what happened, if this is Jeie or someone looking for you then we have to know everything that you do about him." With everyone staring at her, Arella had to nod. They all knew parts of her past anyway, but no one had quite the full picture. She sighed, casting a glance at Fury. He made a signal to Hill ad the few agents nearby left them. The Avengers and their director were isolated at the table with no eavesdroppers. Hesitantly Arella began a more detailed version of the story she had told them before.

"My father was the King, his family had ruled for seven hundred years. I don't know if he was a fair King, he was my father and I had a perfect picture of him. We were poorer than our cousins across the border and I don't remember any revolts or wars. We used to travel through the country and everyone would cheer us, whether there were things I didn't see I don't know. There probably was. I had three older brothers, an older sister and a younger brother. When I was ten, a general staged a military coup. I was too young to tell you how he did it, all I know is that when Jeie marched against the palace, he killed my father and two eldest brothers. Jhoel was killed as he tried to get my sister to safety. She made it out of the city; Jeie's men locked me up as soon as they found me. It was hours before my father's bodyguard found me. My mother escaped with my younger brother and me, we went to the coast to her family but Jeie set himself up as King and followed us. Eventually we went into hiding. Gab and I grew up in the mountains, never giving our real names. Around us Jeie's country grew stronger as he taxed the people and made most of the young join the army. The Empire bordering our lands invaded a few years later. I ran away to join Jeie's army, to fight against the centuries old enemy. I wasn't fighting for him, but for my people. We won after a year of war and my mother used the redundant soldiers as recruitment for her attempt to put Gab on the throne. She had me lead half of the soldiers she had raised and took charge of the other half herself. I went through the mountains to approach Jeie's second army from above. We won but my mother lost her side of the battle. It was from Jeie's own messengers that I learnt Gab was dead and she had fled to the coast again. I told my soldiers to return home and deny they had any part in our rebellion; I didn't want them killed for no reason. When Jeie came most of them had left. He marched me into the capital as his prisoner. Two months later he announced he would marry me to consolidate his throne. We devised the plan that led to me coming here." She stopped, her mouth drier than her eyes. She blinked back tears. It had been more than fifteen years since Jeie took power but she still woke up frozen in fear, trapped in the cell waiting for them to come and kill her.

"Does everyone back home have the, uh, shadow things?" Steve asked. She shook her head.

"It ran in the family, through father's line. It was a sort of gift, to make others obey you. It allowed the first Kings to rule without huge armies or revolts. Jeie was immune, I don't know how but the sort of things my father and brothers could do didn't work on him."

"Director, we have two life forms descending. The portal has opened briefly and is now closed again," Hill called. "We have visual."

"Sera," Arella hissed.

"That doesn't sound like an old friend," muttered Tony dryly.

… …

**Sorry this took a day longer than it was meant to. If it helps, her brothers are called Adramel, Ecan, Jhoel and Gab.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

… …

Steve was the first to stand when their visitors appeared, led by Hill. Arella jumped up, her hard expression changing to an amazed grin.

"Merza?" The first angel was a tall ginger man with grey wings. He beamed at her, arms outstretched. She shot across the bridge and all the others could see was a mass of feathers and hugging.

The woman looked on, a sneer on her face. She walked straight past the pair and turned to the table full of people. She spoke in an imperious tone, clearly giving orders that no one could understand, her bright blue eyes surveying them coldly. They had the same steel in them Arella's did but lacked the sort of softness her grey ones had.

"Miss Brand?" Fury asked after a suitable period. Arella stepped away from the man.

"Merza, he was one of my friends behind my escape. I expected Jeie to have killed him," she explained.

"I meant, what I she saying?" Fury jerked his head towards the woman. Arella's face fell slightly.

"My sister, Sera. She was asking to see your leader. Well, demanding really." Tony pulled out a tablet and handed it to Fury.

"I perfected the translation program. Give it a moment to get her voice right," he said proudly. "There."

"What is your business here?" Fury asked, the program echoing his words in the flowing language the angels spoke.

"I have come to bring my sister back. If you release her without a struggle the King will refrain from sending forth his army." There was a brief silence before Arella turned to Merza.

"What part do you have in this?" she asked.

"Jeie did not know whether you were being held captive or not. I am here to persuade you to come back if you had chosen to stay." He stared at the floor uncomfortably.

"Are your people threatening us?" Fury asked coldly.

"No! Jeie does not want a war. He has spent a long time trying to find Arella; he would attack had you mistreated her." Merza looked around at the Avengers and SHIELD personnel nervously.

"You have ten minutes to gather your belongings, we are leaving," Sera announced. "Do not be childish and keep us waiting."

"Hold on, what makes you think Arella will go back with you? She risked her life to get away," said Tony. Sera didn't even dignify him with an answer.

"I don't want to go," Arella said quietly. Sera turned on her, eyes flashing in anger.

"You have a duty to your people, to your family, to me. I cannot believe you would be selfish enough to let what you want dictate your actions." No one dared come between the two girls, Merza backed round and found himself standing beside Steve.

"Why? That is what you always do! If Jeie wants a royal wife, marry him yourself! Oh, but that's it. He doesn't want you, he wants me. Why? I'm just the younger sister, the last in line to inherit; your heirs would have a better claim than mine."

"I don't know what goes on inside the King's mind; you just have to come back."

"Or what?" The others tensed, they had heard her use that tone before. Arella was nowhere as calm as she pretended to be.

"You'll be abandoning your family, your friends, you whole damned world!"

"I already left! I left and I didn't even bother saying goodbye to you! I was perfectly happy here until you came along! Family? What family? I've got you and you don't care! I don't even know if mother's still alive, she certainly is never going to set foot outside her family's estates again. I've got friends here, brilliant friends who actually give a damn. Tchako's dead, Fran's dead, Gab's dead, who do I have back home? No one except Merza and he's here. Go back home and tell Jeie if he wants a Queen, you're more than willing but I will not bow or call him King. My father was the King, my brother should have been."

"They're gone, Arella. Don't be stupid and throw away your chance at a future! I'm your sister! I don't want to see you rot here!"

"No, you'd rather have me where you can gloat over my fall."

"You seem to be under the impression I hate you." Sera's voice dropped to whisper, the translator barely catching it.

"Don't you?"

"I'm your sister."

"That doesn't answer the question." There was a deadly silence on the bridge; a pin drop would have been heard. The two sisters glared at each other, neither moving.

"Arella, may I speak with you?" Merza asked eventually, breaking the deadlock. They stepped away from the table and the translator, whispering urgently. Tony let out a low whistle at the argument he had just witnessed.

"Growing up in that house must have been fiery," he muttered lightly.

"Hold your tongue," Sera snapped.

"If you weren't such a cow to Arella, I'd befriend you just for that comment," said Clint. "As it is, you're lucky I don't normally hit girls." Steve was close to sniggering as well.

"I am a princess," the angel retorted. "How dare you speak to me in such a way! I am one of the last of the Royal family."

"That apparently is now debatable," Arella said, coming over with a slightly smug but shocked look in her eyes. Merza refused to look Sera in the eye, going back to standing beside Steve.

"Pardon?" Fury looked ever so slightly amused.

"Not that it matters. I am staying here, nothing you can say will change that. You wasted a trip. Go back to whatever Jeie has planned for you, Sera. I care even less now." Steve heard Merza let out a small, defeated sigh at that. Sera looked around her, her eyes resting on him and a sly smile appearing on her lips.

"Then you sentence his nephew to death," she said coldly.

… …


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

… …

… …

Arella paced her room, still wearing the simple smock she had spent the day in. She ignored the richly decorated dress on the stand. Somewhere there was a servant waiting to wind the sari around her and braid the ruby headdress into her hair. Arella had no patience for that and had half a mind to appear as she was, barefoot and scruffy just to see how the court would take it. She doubted Jeie would be impressed. Perhaps she could make a statement of it, she wondered. A knock at the door made her sigh, asking if it was impossible for people to leave her alone for more than a minute.

"Arella, it is Merza." She yanked the door open and stared at him sourly. His ginger curls bounced around as he fidgeted uncomfortably.

"You are in so much trouble," he told her. "Tchako is coming to make sure you're ready. He's livid with you for running away." Arella scoffed.

"I didn't run away, I was within the city's lands the entire time. Jeie knows

I'm not going anywhere." Merza looked less than impressed.

"You're playing with fire, Arella. He chose you over Sera but he can just as easily have you executed or thrown in prison to rot." He sighed and turned to go.

"Merza," Arella whispered, slipping her arms around his shoulders and hugging him. "I'll be alright."

"There you are," a stern voice said. "Get dressed. Merza, go and tell them she will be there in ten minutes." Tchako marched up and pulled the two apart. He gave Arella a small shove back into her room and pointed at the dress.

"I don't want to," she began but the servant appeared and was already holding out the deep red fabric to her. Tchako turned his back and she ducked behind the screen.

"Jeie chose you to be his Queen, he let you live. Now stop complaining and smile when on the balcony as required." Arella stuck her head out, her grey eyes wide.

"It's not that," she muttered. "I can sit through state functions easily enough even if I have to see my Father's men bow to a dog. It's..." Tchako's face softened slightly.

"Not now," he warned. "You look nice." She looked more than nice but for all her life he had never given her more of a compliment that nice. The red and gold sari dress fell perfectly from her skinny frame, her chocolate coloured hair gathered up in a complicated style the maid had managed in a minute to entwine with the headdress.

"Happy now? I shall smile and wave like a good little girl," she snapped. Tchako smiled thinly and took her arm.

"Like a princess," he corrected as they walked along to where Merza was waiting.

… …

Fran looked up when the door opened behind her. She smiled as the tall angel walked in.

"Tchako," she greeted him. He placed a brace of rabbits on the table with a disgruntled sigh.

"There was a patrol, I couldn't get to the woods for deer," he said. "Where are they?" She pointed out the window with the carrot she was peeling. Outside a boy was trying to juggle apples, a girl laughing whenever he dropped them. Tchako watched, unaware of the fond smile creeping onto his face.

"She could stay a peasant, hiding in the wild for the rest of her life," Fran mused. "And never be a princess."

"She will always be a princess. Don't bring that up again, Fran." Tchako's eyes were softer than his harsh expression. "Please."

"Not now maybe but in ten, fifteen years' time? What would you see happen to her?"

"That is not for me to decide."

Fran didn't press it. She knew Tchako cared more for the grey-eyed girl in their care than he did her brother. That in itself was going against the basic structure of the system of inheritance; Arella was dear to them and important but as insensitive as it was Gab was their priority. Fran wasn't sure Tchako saw that anymore. Arella was nineteen and ready to have a life besides running from her past. Fran thought of the farmers' sons around them and almost laughed as she realised she was trying to marry off a princess to a peasant.

"What is so funny?" Tchako asked suspiciously.

"Let me laugh or else I think I will cry," she answered. "It does not seem real sometimes." He huffed and picked up the rabbits.

"Do you think it is time one of them learned to skin rabbits?" he asked dryly.

"Tell Gab to do it, Arella will only cut it to shreds."

… …

Arella fidgeted around impatiently, waiting for the Emperor to finish his speech. She caught Tchako glaring at her from his place with the honour guard and stood still. For an eight year old the formal acceptance of a trade offer was boring when she could be doing so much else. Eventually her father started talking and they were finally allowed to eat the plates of food piled high in front of them. Sera's hand moved first, taking the bowl of dragon's eye fruit out of Arella's reach. Ecan reached across and handed one of the sticky white globes to her with a wink. Arella was really a bit too young to attend the court functions but with the exception of Gab who couldn't eat with his own spoon yet all the royal children were present. Arella smiled at the richly dressed Imperial prince sitting opposite her. He looked from Sera to her as if deciding which was the sister more worthy of his attention. She thought he was a bit too soft-cheeked and stuck-up to be any fun. The prince dropped his long sleeve in his soup and Arella had to hide a giggle in her hand. She caught Tchako glaring at her again with a slightly more amused look.

… …

**Sorry it's a bit of a rip-off but I was in a rush and thought you deserved something at least. Clips from Arella's life before she came to earth.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

… …

There was silence on the bridge for a moment. Arella bit back her retort as she saw the pained expression on Merza's face.

"Director, the portal is collapsing in on itself. It's closing," Hill called. Sera and Merza looked around in alarm.

"Looks like you're stuck here as well," Tony stated. "You're not welcome, in case you hadn't realised."

"It'll open again in a few hours," Merza said slowly. "We just took too long to come through." Fury let out an inaudible sigh.

"Mr Stark, I suggest we move this conference to the lab," he said. Having potentially hostile aliens on the bridge was a higher security hazard than Fury was clearly prepared to accept.

"Touch anything birdbrains and I'm making you into chicken soup," Tony warned.

"Please do," came the mutter from Arella.

... ...

Steve watched as Tony and Arella argued quietly about something, Clint butting in occasionally with a point that didn't seem to help either one's side. Natasha was standing by the door ready to move against anyone of the visitors. For their part Sera and Merza were quiet, the former sitting aloof from the rest. The ginger angel hovered uncomfortably around the edges, shooting Arella worried looks. Steve took pity on the poor man and went over to him.

"Steve," he said holding out a hand to shake. Hesitantly Merza took it. Jarvis had integrated the software into the SHIELD computer and translation was almost instant.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked. The angel sighed and looked away.

"Jeie is holding my sister's son prisoner. He will kill him if I do not return with Arella." Steve bit his lip. He knew that wasn't beneath the general, he had heard enough from Arella.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. Arella was petrified of going back but Steve wondered if she wouldn't sacrifice herself for a young boy. He glanced over at her to find her grey eyes on him. Solemnly she gave him a small nod. She was going back.

"What will Jeie do to her that she is so afraid of?" Merza let out a shaky laugh.

"Are you familiar with the words forced marriage? It is not pleasant," the angel answered bitterly. Steve reddened so that he almost matched Merza's hair.

"It is strange, this place. It is flying without wings or steam. Arella is unhappy though, do you know why?"

Steve hesitated, thinking about what to tell him. There was something about Merza that made him trustable.

"She fell in love with someone, but they fell apart." The ginger angel raised an eyebrow.

"Arella in love? That is interesting. If only," he left it hanging, lost in his own little world Steve wasn't clued in on. "I apologise, it would just have made things easier if..."

"If what?"

"If she was someone else's."

Steve thought about what Bruce would do if he was there. The man would do everything to keep Arella with him but faced with the hostage situation Jeie had created there wasn't much they could do. Steve felt someone looking at him and turned to meet Sera's cold blue eyes before she looked away sharply.

"She's not her sister, is she?" he asked softly.

"Half-sister." Merza flashed a thin smile. "We think she's in denial. Still, it would explain quite a lot. Jeie hasn't publicly denounced her yet, she will not get a marriage offer until her situation is quite clear. It is strange how the sister who would gladly become Queen he hates and the one who hates him he wishes to marry. We all love Arella but still."

"Uh oh, looks like your ride's here guys," Tony called brightly. "It was horrible meeting you, your highness."

"Ride?" Merza asked. "You translate it but still I do not understand."

"Don't worry, no one understands Stark," muttered Steve. Arella had crossed the room to Natasha, whispering something to the redhead. She frowned then nodded reluctantly.

"Come then, Merza. From the hurricane into the tornado," Arella sighed.

"You should feel offended, not one of your friends has asked you to stay," her sister said.

"Steve, see if the translation of conscience is available." Tony grinned as his pupil led the way to the bridge as if he was solely responsible for Arella's dry humour. He sobered quickly when she tapped his shoulder and whispered an unsatisfactory good bye. Clint filled Fury in within seconds and Steve barely had time to realise that she was about to leave. He ran forward and reached for her arm.

"Arella." He stopped when he saw the tear fighting to fall from her eye.

"If he ever asks, explain," she murmured. He knew she never thought twice about what she did, unlike Bruce she never dwelt on the past. For her decisions were made in a split second and unless proved wrong were simply facts. Steve fell out of step with her, coming to a halt as she left him behind. It all happened to fast; she was gone before he could think of what to say. Dumbfounded he watched as she followed Sera into the storm cloud. Only Clint's loud curse made him aware that Merza was falling behind, and then just falling as a bolt of lightning struck him. Without Iron Man they could do little but watch as the angel fell towards them.

Steve ran forward instinctively, guessing at where Merza would land. He groaned as the dead weight hit his arms and he was engulfed in smouldering feathers. Seconds later the others were gathered around him, a SHIELD medic being pushed forward. Steve let them take the angel away, following of his own accord, still dazed. He looked up at the cloud one last time but Arella was gone.

"Guys, Jarvis just notified me that Bruce turned up in New York. He's gone now but…" Natasha's voice made little impact on him. Steve walked straight past his teammates, eventually finding himself on a chair opposite Merza's unconscious form with only the beeping of his heart monitor for company.

... ...

I know it's been a week or so, sorry I had end of year exams.


End file.
